Cayambe - An Indian Community

The day started with an hour and a half smooth ride from Quito to the city of Cayambe. The ride from Cayambe into the indigenous community was another hour and a half ride but this time the smooth road had become very bumpy (And with four people squished in the back seat you can imagine how "comfortable" it must have been). Despite the bumpiness (and the occasional donkey, sheep, cow, or horse in the road) the view was amazingly beautiful and beyond words. And the more we stared at its beauty the more the bumpiness and squished hips seemed to be completely out of minds. It is moments like these that you really wonder how people can look at such a beautiful site and still wonder if there is a God. How can they still doubt He is the creator?

The night before we left for Cayambe we purchased 30 bibles to give to the church in the Indigenous community. We purchased enough food to give to 20 families in the area. We also brought a donation of girl toys, boy toys, and cloths given to us by a local orphanage. After giving the food to 20 families and giving the donations away we munched on some food and awaited the night ahead of us. None of us could even imagine what the night was going to hold. The only thing that we knew was that we were performing at a service where all the surrounding churches would be gathered. We knew there was possibly going to be about 300 people and that there was going to be music and a message. They asked us to be a part of the program so we prepared five songs to sing. The service was supposed to start at 7 (but since we are on Ecuadorian time) it started late at 8. There was singing, drama, dance, and 4 messages. Before we knew it, it was 12 in the morning and we still had not sung yet. We were a little worried that our voices would not allow us to sing because of how late it was but God definitely got us through. The people seemed to enjoy the singing! They were even asking us to sing more songs. The service went from 8pm to 1am…5 hours of worshiping God with a kind of music we had never heard before (some songs in their own language “Quichua”). It was such an amazing experience to see how simple the lives of these people were. They had nearly nothing (as far as material items) but it didn’t matter. In a way I sort of envied how naive they were to the outside world. There was nothing to distort or distract their thinking. They love God a great deal--that is one thing that did not go unnoticed and I don't think that anyone of us left that place unchanged